Sunday, March 8, 2015

First we need to make sure everyone knows what inset/offset are. This font is Janda Curly Girl Chunky. I wanted my letters 6" across for a size 3T shirt. The font was fairly thin in some parts so I selected my font and offset twice at 0.075 each. I moved the middle layer to the side (blue) and made the inter and outer layers into a compound path (red). The blue is used for your fabric layer and the red will be the glitter htv. Do not mirror the blue, DO mirror the red before cutting.

Step 1: Iron a piece of Heat N Bond Lite about an inch bigger on all sides than your design.

*you may use Ultra, but in my opinion it can bleed through when you press the htv over it and cause a sticky mess.

Trim it to size and place it, fabric side up on your mat. You can remove the paper backing if your mat is new and super tacky, or you can leave the paper on (I prefer to leave it on).

I use the fabric setting on the machine for light cotton fabrics. My blade is on 4, speed on 7 and depth 30. This is the fabric blade, but it is the same as the regular blade. It has a different color housing just so you can tell which is which. It's not necessary, but I cut a lot of fabric.

Once your letters are cut, remove the surrounding fabric leaving just your wording.

To maintain proper spacing I use a piece of left over HTV carrier sheet. Some people have said this does not work for them. If that is the case, use the fabric you tore off as a template to lay your letters inside of *or* lay them under your HTV and press them together in one step

Iron your letters to your shirt

Almost there!!

This is lavender glitter HTV, Make sure you weed out the middle of your word so the fabric can be seen through on the other side.

Line it up over your fabric. Make sure you have all the edges trapped under the HTV. The inset/offset should give you a good buffer, just like embroidering (applique)